Drag and Drop.

With systemwide drag and drop on iOS, users can quickly and easily move text, images, and files from one app to another. Simply tap and hold to pick up the content and drag it to the other app. Multi-Touch, a way to select multiple items, lets you pick up several items just by tapping. And with spring-loading, you can copy to another app by dragging content over the app’s icon in the Dock or on the Home screen.

Overview

Easy to Use

Drag and drop takes advantage of the power of Multi-Touch, letting you move content between apps in a way that feels natural on iPad. Just tap and hold on an image, a file, or selected text and drag it to where you want it to go. You can also drag contacts, reminders, maps, and more.

Spring-loading

With spring-loading, you can use drag and drop to open an app so you can move content from one app to another by hovering over the icon. Simply pick up the content you want to move and hold it over the app icon in the Dock or on the Home screen. The app springs open. Drop the content where you want it.

Multi-select

This fast and easy way lets you select multiple items. Start dragging one item and then tap others to add them.

Systemwide Integration

Drag and drop is integrated throughout iOS and can be used in the following places: Home screen, Dock, Reminders, Calendar, Messages, Spotlight, Files, Safari, Contacts, iBooks, News, Notes, Photos, Maps, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. Using a simple and powerful API, you can adopt drag and drop in your app.

Get started with drag and drop.

Xcode and iOS

Download the latest beta of Xcode, which includes the iOS SDK, and the latest beta of iOS to build support for drag and drop in your app today.